Soup with Sprats in Tomato Sauce and Beans

Sprats in tomato are already a finished product, they aren't boiled. In this soup they go into the pot last and stay on the heat for five minutes together with the cabbage and the sautéed vegetables — exactly long enough to heat through. Boiled longer, they break down into fibers and stop being noticeable in the bowl at all.

The second thing that holds this soup together is that the beans are canned as well, and they go in after the potatoes, when those are already half done. Both canned goods play the same role here: they add substance without demanding time.

Tomato comes in twice — as juice in the sautéed vegetables and as sauce from the tin. This isn't excess: the juice gives the vegetables their acidity while they are still in the pan, so the sauté goes into the soup ready rather than raw.

The substance here comes from beans and cabbage; the same tin of sprats carried by fried millet instead is soup with canned sprats and millet. For a soup where the fish is actually boiled rather than warmed through, there is fish soup from mackerel heads.

Caloric content: 62kcal

Notes

• The potatoes are boiled until half done. Twenty minutes, no longer: after that they finish cooking together with the cabbage.
• The beans are added after the potatoes. Canned beans cook down quickly, and put in at the start they turn into purée.
• The sauté is stewed under a lid. The tomato juice has to evaporate and thicken in the pan, not in the soup.
• The cabbage goes in together with the sauté. The same five minutes are enough for it, and it stays firm.
• Bay leaf and herbs go in for the last five minutes. Long boiling makes bay leaf bitter.
• Red onion is milder here than the ordinary kind. It is sweeter and doesn't overpower the tomato.

Questions and Answers

Why must the sprats not be boiled?

They are already cooked — this is canned fish. In the pot they only need to heat through, five minutes together with the cabbage and the sauté. Boiled longer, they break down into fibers and stop being noticeable in the bowl.

When should the beans be added?

After the potatoes, when those are already half done. Canned beans cook down quickly and, put in at the start, they turn into purée.

Why tomato twice — as juice and as sauce from the tin?

The juice gives the vegetables their acidity while they are still in the pan, so the sauté goes into the soup ready rather than raw. The sauce from the tin comes in with the fish.

Can ordinary onion be used?

It can, but red onion is milder here: it is sweeter and doesn't overpower the tomato.

Recipe and step-by-step photos — kolizhanka.net.ua.